I’m glad to see the Repubs have won so handily. Here’s what they and Obama face over the next two years:

The oil shock is likely to happen

The stock market is likely to decline – it could be 25% or more overvalued

Unemployment is likely to get worse

The environment – due to human causation – is likely to continue to deteriorate

There aren’t conventional solutions to these predicaments, there is only adaptation. But my fear is that the Repubs will face each one of these with “free market” solutions. That and a resort to “America first,” which could jeopardize global stability even more in the face of each of the predicaments. In regard to the coming oil shock, we will see at least a few more months that the locusts will eat.

At the same time, health care will be given back to the corporations. (well it pretty much is now anyway.) The environment is likely to be further threatened due to new oil drilling. Work place safety regulations are likely to be diminished. Look for new “show us your papers” legislation around the country. And if they are serious at all about reducing the deficit (which I most sincerely doubt), then be prepared for austerity the likes of which we haven’t seen before: Tax cuts for the rich, penury for the rest of us. And since the people in Kentucky are some of the most dependent on government transfers, look for the pain to be greater here. Ah, but that’s what great about this country – people are free to vote against their interests and for their prejudices.

Oh the Teapers….I worry about them, not so much their domestic nuttiness, which is bad enough, but for the very real possibility that they will equate oil with Amurica – and that we must use the military to take what’s ours. When the oil shock hits, they are gonna demand answers, and solutions. Those potential “solutions” scare me.

It is rather ironic that people who profess to be conservative, independent, and self- reliant have actually no interest in being that way when it comes to oil. With oil its “burn it all!”
With oil its complete dependency. With oil its “I need me some oil, can’t imagine life without my oil.”

But then the whole movement is founded on nothing more than ignorance and anger so I guess I shouldn’t expect it to make sense.